HHU24SWDSCS: a shallow-water depth model over island areas in the South China Sea retrieved from satellite-derived bathymetry

Accurate shallow-water depth information for island areas is crucial for maritime safety, resource exploration, ecological conservation, and offshore economic activity. Traditional approaches such as shipborne sounding and airborne bathymetric light detection and ranging (lidar) surveys are expensive, time-consuming, and constrained in politically sensitive regions. Moreover, satellite-altimetry-predicted depths exhibit large errors over shallow waters. In contrast, satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB), estimated from multispectral imagery, provides a rapid, open-source, and cost-effective technique for comprehensively characterizing the bathymetry of a region. Given the scarcity of in situ water depth data for the South China Sea (SCS), a shallow-water depth model, HHU24SWDSCS (Hohai University 2024 Shallow-Water Depth Model of South China Sea), was developed using a linear band model by integrating 1298 Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) tracks with 70 Sentinel-2 multispectral images. The model covers over 120 islands and reefs in the SCS region at a resolution of 10 m. Validation against independent ICESat-2 depth data yielded a root mean square error for the model of 0.53-1.24 m (< 5 % of the maximum depth). Further validation using independent airborne lidar bathymetry data in the Lingyang Reef demonstrated an accuracy of 1.01 m. Comparisons with existing bathymetry models revealed the superior performance of the developed model. While traditional bathymetry models exhibit errors of up to tens of meters or larger over island regions and should therefore be used with caution, HHU24SWDSCS demonstrated good accuracy in shallow waters across the SCS. This model thus provides a reference for mapping shallow-water depth close to islands and provides fundamental support for research in oceanography, geodesy, and other disciplines.